LIVE: Sussex's elections - as they happen
Results from across the county are set to start pouring in on Friday
Last updated 7th May 2021
The first results from elections across Sussex are set to be known on Friday.
Voters have been deciding which county councillors they'll be represented by in East and West Sussex, as well as who will be the county's Police and Crime Commissioner.
There are also borough and district council elections taking place in Crawley, Adur, Worthing and Hastings, along with several other by-elections elsewhere.
Counting in the first of those elections got underway at 12pm.
Here are the headlines so far:
- Labour have held control of Hastings Borough Council. The party lost five of the 12 seats they were defending, four to the Conservatives and a fifth to the Greens.
- The Conservatives have held onto East Sussex County Council despite suffering a handful of losses to other parties. The Lib Dems and Labour both picked up seats, while the Greens are represented on the council for the first time with three seats.
- In West Sussex, the Conservatives are close to a majority after trading a few seats with the Lib Dems - but the full results for the County Council won't be known until Saturday.
You can keep up to date with the latest developments on our liveblog:
20.48
Final results in East Sussex:
Conservatives 27 (-2)
Liberal Democrats 11 (=)
Labour 5 (+1)
Green 4 (+4)
Independent 3 (-2)
20.46
Greens win final East Sussex seat
The final result in East Sussex County Council's elections is in - it's from Ringmer and Lewes Bridge, where the Greens have taken their fourth seat of the day, this time from the Liberal Democrats.
20.41
The penultimate seat for East Sussex is in - the Conservatives have beaten the Greens by just 47 votes to win Chailey.
20.02
Gains for Greens, Labour in East Sussex
Although the Tories already have enough for a majority, it may be a very small one - they've just dropped another seat to Labour in Peacehaven.
Meanwhile the Greens are on the board again, taking a formerly Independent seat in Lewes.
19.51
Conservatives retain control of East Sussex County Council
The Conservatives have won an overall majority in East Sussex, with victory in the Seaford North ward taking them to 26 seats in the 50-seat authority.
There are still six seats left to be decided, meaning they could finish with a higher total than the 30 they achieved in 2017.
The Liberal Democrats have won 9 seats, Labour 4, the Greens and Independent Democrats 2 each, and one seat has gone to an Independent candidate.
19.45
19.40
The current state of the parties:
WEST SUSSEX: Conservatives 32 (-3), Liberal Democrats 9 (=), Independent 1 (+1), Local Alliance (+1), Green (+1)
EAST SUSSEX: Conservatives 18 (-3), Liberal Democrats 8 (+1), Labour 4 (=), Independent Democrats 2 (=), Green (+2), Independent 1 (=)
19.32
For anyone who wanted to know how Baron Von Thunderclap did...
19.28
Labour gain in East Sussex
Results from the Lewes district are now filtering in - and include this gain for Labour in Telscombe, at the expense of the Conservatives.
19.20
19.18
An important gain for the Tories in Crawley:
19.11
The results are starting to come in thick and fast for borough council seats in Crawley.
Labour have held Langley Green and Tushmore, while the Tories have retained Gossops Green and North East Broadfield.
Ifield, meanwhile, is heading for a recount - which could prove crucial to determining who takes control of the authority.
19.07
Another Lib Dem gain in West Sussex
The party have added to their success in Burgess Hill East by capturing the North ward from the Tories - the council's chairman Andrew Barrett-Miles has been defeated.
19.06
First results in from Crawley
We finally have some news in from Crawley - Labour have held the first two borough council seats declared.
Michael Jones was the winner in Bewbush and Broadfield North, while Kiran Khan has been elected in Broadfield.
19.05
19.04
19.02
If you're wondering what's happened in Crawley - one of the biggest battlegrounds in Sussex at this election - so are we!
Vote counting is currently taking place there, but we're yet to get any results at either county or borough council level.
18.58
West Sussex council leader holds seat
West Sussex County Council leader Paul Marshall is returning to County Hall for another term - he's been re-elected in Storrington.
The Conservatives are looking set for another majority administration, as they've currently won 28 seats, only eight short of the 36 needed for an overall majority.
18.55
Lib Dems make another West Sussex gain
The Lib Dems have made it three seats out of three in central Horsham - adding Horsham East to the Hurst and Riverside wards.
They've also held on in Bognor Regis Central
The Conservatives have won several more seats too, in Arundel and Courtwick, Pulborough and Southwater and Nuthurst.
18.40
Three more wins for the Tories in West Sussex - in Bramber Castle, Billingshurst and Haywards Heath Town.
18.36
Results are starting to come in thick and fast across Chichester - including in Selsey, where the Local Alliance have taken a seat off the Tories - Donna Johnson is the new councillor there.
Elsewhere the Lib Dems have held onto Midhurst while the Tories have won in Rother Valley and The Witterings.
18.35
18.31
18.29
Conservatives lose second Chichester seat
There's more bad news for the Conservatives in Chichester, as they've just lost Chichester West to the Lib Dems.
The seat had been represented by former County Council leader Louise Goldsmith, who stepped down at this election.
18.26
Greens make breakthrough in West Sussex
It seems like the Greens' success isn't limited to East Sussex - the party has also just gained its first seat on West Sussex County Council.
Sarah Sharp, who's a Chichester District councillor, has been elected in Chichester South, taking the seat from the Conservatives.
18.23
Green candidate wins second council seat in a day
Someone who's definitely got that Friday feeling is Julia Hilton, who's just doubled her number of election successes in one day.
After winning a seat on Hastings Borough Council for the Greens earlier, she's repeated the feat by getting elected to East Sussex County Council in the Old Hastings and Tressell ward, at the expense of Labour.
It's the party's second win of the day there.
18.22
18.17
18.15
The current state of the parties:
WEST SUSSEX: Conservatives 12 (=), Lib Dems 3 (-1), Independent 1 (+1)
EAST SUSSEX: Conservatives 15 (-2), Lib Dems 6 (+1), Labour 3 (=) Independent Democrats 2 (=), Greens 1 (+1)
18.10
18.08
18.07
18.05
18.00
Conservatives gain Littlehampton seat from Lib Dems
17.57
Lib Dems gain seat from Tories in West Sussex
After the Conservatives took Rustington off the Lib Dems earlier, they've now returned the favour with a victory in Burgess Hill East.
17.54
17.47
17.40
In East Sussex, results have started to come in from Eastbourne - a stronghold for the Lib Dems.
They've held onto seats in Devonshire, Hampden Park and Langney wards.
Right now the Conservatives have 11 elected representatives, the Lib Dems 4, the Independent Democrats 2 and the Greens 1 - with 32 seats still to be decided.
17.29
Independent makes gain from Conservatives in West Sussex
17.23
17.19
17.17
The current state of the parties:
WEST SUSSEX: Conservatives 4 (+1), Liberal Democrats 1 (-1)
EAST SUSSEX: Conservatives 11 (-2), Independent Democrats 2 (=), Liberal Democrats 1 (+1), Greens 1 (+1)
17.12
Conservatives gain West Sussex council seat
The first seat to change hands in West Sussex is in Rustington - the previously Lib Dem held seat has been won by the Conservatives.
17.04
Two more seats have been declared in East Sussex - Maresfield and Buxted and Hailsham New Town have both been held by the Conservatives.
17.02
16.54
16.47
West Sussex Lib Dem leader wins re-election
The first seat to be decided in West Sussex has gone to the Liberal Democrats.
Dr James Walsh, the party's leader on the County Council and the leader of Arun District Council, has been re-elected in Littlehampton East.
16.21
Counting underway in Crawley
16.17
Greens make first gain on East Sussex County Council
After their success in Hastings earlier, the Greens have added to that with a victory in East Sussex - Georgia Taylor has been elected in Forest Row and Groombridge, defeating former Brighton Kemptown MP Simon Kirby.
16.09
A few more East Sussex seats are in - the Conservatives have retained Crowborough North and Jarvis Brook, while Independent Democrat Daniel Shing hangs onto his seat in Polegate and Watermill.
15.52
Lib Dems gain seat in East Sussex
We've had our first seat changing hands in East Sussex - Hailsham Market, which went to the Tories in 2017, has gone to the Lib Dems this time around.
15.49
15.42
Two more seats held for the Conservatives on East Sussex County Council - Crowborough South and St Johns, and Uckfield North.
They're now on five for the day there.
15.23
Crawley Borough Council's leader, Peter Lamb of Labour, has also been talking to Karen Dunn about what he's been hearing on the campaign trail:
15.16
Crawley 'on a knife-edge' - Tories
The leader of the Conservatives on Crawley Borough Council, Duncan Crow, is confident of his party's chances of wresting control of the authority form Labour.
He's been speaking to our Local Democracy Reporter Karen Dunn:
15.13
First results in from East Sussex
The first three seats on East Sussex are in and all are Conservative holds - in Wealden North East, Uckfield South with Framfield and Heathfield and Mayfield.
15.02
Labour hold Hastings - despite losing seats
The three final borough council seats have declared in Hastings - all going to the same party they were with before.
Labour keep hold of Tressell and Wishing Tree, while the Conservatives retain West St Leonards.
It means Labour keep control of the authority with a reduced majority.
They won seven seats (down five on their result from before) to the Conservatives' eight (up four) and the Greens' one.
Overall it means Labour have 19 seats on the council, the Conservatives 12 and the Greens one
14.51
Two more Tory gains from Labour in Hastings
14.49
Three more borough council seats have been declared in Hastings.
Labour have held onto Castle and Gensing wards while the Conservatives have held Conquest ward.
It means the total for today now stands at five seats for the Tories, three for Labour and one for the Greens.
14.16
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13.14
The story so far
We're still waiting for the vast majority of results to come in across Sussex.
So far Hastings is the only area to have completed counts - with six results having been declared there.
So far the Conservatives have won four seats, gaining two of those from Labour.
Labour themselves have one, while the Greens have their first seat on the authority after taking Old Hastings from Labour.
12.49
As results start to come in from East Sussex... we're still waiting for votes to be counted in the West.
Verificiation of the ballots is still ongoing at Crawley's K2 Centre.
12.36
12.28
Greens win first seat in Hastings
12.14
Tories make first gain from Labour in Hastings
The Conservatives have taken Baird ward on Hastings Borough Council from Labour - the first seat change anywhere in Sussex in these elctions.
Labour have also held onto Braybrook ward on the same authority - making it Conservatives 3, Labour 1 on the day so far.
12.06
Second Tory hold in Hastings
11.39
11.23
As well as the wider elections to authorities across Sussex, there are also some individual races taking place in boroughs and districts around the county.
Those include elections to seats on Chichester District Council and Chichester City Council:
11.09
Tories hold first Hastings seat
Our first result of the day is in from Hastings Borough Council:
11.02
In case you needed reminding about what's at stake - you can check out our guide to the counts taking place across Sussex today here.
Sussex Votes 2021: First results expected on Friday
10.48
Verification underway in Crawley
10.46
Due to the sheer amount of counts taking place in Sussex and the Covid restrictions that are needed, the results will take quite a while to filter through.
Staff in Adur and Worthing are going through the verification of ballots for both West Sussex County Council and local district and borough council elections.
10.27
Staff are ready and raring to go in Crawley - which looks set to be one of the must-watch races in West Sussex this year.
The Borough Council is currently under no overall control, with both Labour and the Conservatives vying for the win.